So, the kids went back to school today. Yesterday was the “calm”, if you can call the frenzied last-minute preparation and anticipation “calm.” Today was definitely the storm: masses of school buses back on the streets, school kids at bus stops, school traffic zones, and that’s just as it affects the rest of the non-academic world living on the outside. My kids regaled me with the inside report: schedule changes; getting lost in hallways teeming with students, most of whom are equally lost; agonizing over who to sit with at lunch so you don’t look like a geeky newbie; sizing up the teachers who are also sizing up the students…the list is seemingly endless. Then we have the real storm, Tropical Storm Fay, which is threatening to gain intensity as it sweeps across Florida.

In anticipation of the storm, schools are being closed over the next day or two. Me, I get the next 2 days off work due to inclement weather. I stopped by the only store along my way on the way home from work today to stock up on canned food and batteries. The water aisle was conspicuously devoid of all its customary gallons of water. I guess a few people made it to Winn Dixie before me! Good thing I have water at home. It reminded me for a moment of the parable Jesus told of the 10 virgins. Half of them were prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom and had oil in their lamps and the other half was not prepared.

So here I am, keeping an eye on Fay and my mind on the Lord. When we were moving to Florida from Colorado, we had many people ask what we were thinking, moving to a hurricane-prone region. Our answer is the same today as it was then: I’d rather be in danger, in the center of God’s will, than in safety outside of it. What’s more, I get 2 days off that I hadn’t anticipated!